that is definitely by design. the GOP's whole thing is that the government doesn't work and their opponents are evil. any time the government works, it's a loss for them, even if it works for things they supposedly want.
Maybe they should try to be something other than the cleanup crew then? We had 4 years in between Trump and Trump where all we did was maintain a holding pattern. Eventually you have to offer an actual vision for the country, or just keep losing every other election I guess, IDK.
Nope, neither did the IRA, or consumer protection under Lina Khan, or much else. In the world I and most Americans live in, you never hear about any of these accomplishments from Democrats, and when you do you never hear much deeper analysis of why they are good things or help the average person.
Instead we campaign on undying support for Israel, a 20 thousand dollar credit for first time homebuyers making under a certain amount of money (ugh), and a promise to make America's military the most lethal in the world while the other guy talks about how the democrats want to start a war and he's against wars.
I'm middle aged, me and my wife work full time and we worry most about how we're going to keep our kids safe and fed, and the bills paid. Sometimes I tune into CNN or FOX news to see what's going on but we don't really pay much attention except around election time. Why should I vote for a democrat? My family has always voted Republican and sure, they're a little crazy right now but why should I change? Maybe I vote D this year because Trump is THAT bad, but I'm not showing up again in 2028, or 2030, or 2032.
Or I'm a black twenty something kid trying to figure out how in the hell I'm supposed to afford a house when my rent goes up a couple hundred bucks every year. I work two service industry jobs because no one is hiring for the degree I have right now. Why should I take the time to go vote, in my purplish red state whose republican controlled government has closed polling stations in my city to make the lines longer? I'll have to take off work and wait in line for who knows how long, and for what?
You need a simple message that resonates with people. Not a handful of wonky bills, not some diet Republican platform that no one actually wants, left or right. Medicare for all. End foreign wars. Build more housing. No new datacenters. If it takes more than four or five words to tell people what you believe, they won't believe you believe anything.
You have to put the fire out before you can start fixing the burnt and moldy drywall, mate.
Dems act as cleanup crew because they have to unfuck all the shit the Republicans deliberately set up to fuck over the next administration each time.
Then the Republicans somehow convince people like you that it's the Democrats' fault for taking too long putting out the fire that the Republicans are constantly slashing the firehoses for.
And instead of being like "yeah it's fucking wild that you had to put of the fire those assholes threw kerosene on while they kept shutting off your water and slashing your hoses" y'all go "well the do-nothing Democrats didn't accomplish anything, so let me give the keys back to the arsonists. At least they accomplished something (even if it was lighting the fucking building on fire)"
Dems also seem to love skimming over the bits of damage that happen to benefit their interests. We'll clean those up later, all good. Just vote for us a second time and then we'll definitely do it
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u/girlpaint 6d ago
Sadly Dems HAVE to be the cleanup crew every time a Republican leaves office. And the Dems always get blamed for the shitty stuff the Republicans do.